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Attending the final Washington Capitalshome game of the hockey season, I found our name on the Capital One display featuring the non-profit institutions they proudly support. Now if they could only find a way to support the Cap’s defense….

(Left) Installation view of the Made in the USA exhibition (Right) Virtual view of a gallery created in uCurate

In conjunction with Made in the USA, the Phillips unveiled uCurate: a virtual gallery experience that enables you to curate your own exhibition with works of your choosing, enhance them with your choice of wall colors, and share your personal insights about the pieces in your collection. It’s available in the exhibition galleries, as well as on our website and can run on both Windows and Apple based computers.

We began by taking precise measurements of two galleries in our 3rd floor annex space and from there a 3D model was created. Then we uploaded digital images of our selected collection with their dimensions. All objects are scaled-to-size when they appear in the virtual gallery.

While curating your exhibit, you’ll be able to view it from overhead and get up close and personal with the works:

(Left) Aerial view of the a uCurate gallery (Right) Screenshot of a zoomed in view of an artwork in uCurate

While first released at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, we have added some enhancements to the application. For instance, you may “Click to select a theme” which brings up a list of available categories from Made in the USA that allow you to tailor your exhibit even further.

Users can select a theme from the exhibition to see related works

You may also click the “information” icon which allows you to get deeper details about the object, putting it into context by discussing its place in the life of the artist, the genre, or other anecdotal information.

Click the information icon for in-depth details about the artist and artwork selected

Clicking on the “Paint Walls” button brings up a palette of wall colors. Simply drag a swatch onto your gallery wall to apply the chosen color.

Choose from a number of wall colors to “paint” each gallery wall

Clicking on “Overview” allows you to add your personal insights about your exhibit.

Add your own thoughts and insights for each artwork once it’s been added to your curated gallery

Clicking on “Save” allows you to publish your exhibit to the web and e-mail yourself and friends the link. Share your creations on social media with #MyAmericanArt.

Visit often. Look for some prize opportunities soon. Who knows? You may be America’s Next Top Curating Idol!

Seeking uCurate App Beta-testers*

*UPDATE: Our testing participant roster is currently full and testing is in process. Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm!

We are launching a mobile Apple and Android BETA version of the uCurate application. We are seeking 15 participants for each operating system (Apple iOS and Android) to help us in the testing process, to provide input before we submit the apps for approval. We ask each tester to test in both a tablet and mobile phone platform, if possible. If you can test in both operating systems, terrific, or only have one device, that works as well. We will stop once we reach our needed 15 testers per operating system, 30 total, filled on a first-come-first-served basis.

We will provide you with instructions and questions to which we are seeking your opinions for a testing period of two weeks (April 14th – April 25th). We are soliciting comments and opinions immediately after the period begins.

Each tester who successfully participates with this project will receive two free tickets to Made in the USA . If you are interested in applying, please send an email with “BETA TESTER” in the subject line to webmaster@phillipscollection.org and be sure to list the types of devices you will be using to test the application. We will respond to you shortly thereafter. Thank you for your interest in The Phillips Collection.

I was drawn into Marjorie Phillips’sGiants vs Mets (1964) not only for its outstanding perspective and subject matter (her baseball paintings are among my very favorites at The Phillips Collection) but also for the unique moment in the game that she chose to capture. Since there is no scoreboard featured we cannot distinctly determine the exact point in time or the score of the game, but we see runners at second and third, which presents a scoring opportunity for the team at-bat. The right-handed hitter (determined by the positioning of his follow-through) has just made contact with the ball, as we see several players looking skyward. However, the runners at second and third are not actively sprinting towards their destinations, and the player in left field is actively locating the ball in the air.

Doing some further research, this particular game may have been the May 31, 1964 game between the San Francisco Giants at the New York Mets. They played a double-header, San Francisco taking the first game 5-3 and also the second, marathon-length 7 hour and 23 minute game by a score of 8-6. That second game lasted 23 innings and New York tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring 3 runs to force the extra innings. Joe Christopher was at bat for the Mets and he hits right-handed, driving in a home run to left-field/center-field to bring home Roy McMillan from third base and Frank Thomas from second base.

See what Duncan and Marjorie likely saw on their visit to Shea Stadium for Mets vs Giants: